Even if he was a stub-nosed Athenian
condemned to death over two millennia ago, Socrates totally roxz0rs my soxz0rs, yo. ^^ One of the reasons being that he is the 'father of the dæmon'
- speaking of an inner voice that guided him long before Pullman wrote of
Pantalaimon and his kind. The philosopher's unseen companion was never
given a personalized name, but references to it use spellings ranging from
dæmon, daemon, to daimonion. The most common, however, is 'daimon,' considering that this is the Latinized version of the Greek's word for it: δαίμων.

Though Socrates believed his
dæmon was a gift from the gods which made him unique, future scholars speculated
it was merely Socrates' voice of conscience or prudence; not something of
supernatural origins, but a voice from within which we all possess. Over
time, the word 'daemon' has been developed to mean 'an attendant
power or spirit.' For the Greeks, the daimon was an entity somewhere between mortal and god. In his work Cratylus, Plato uses the term δαίμονες, or daimones, which was taken from their word for knowing or wise (daēmones). The daimon was later divided into two types: Eudaemons and Kakodaemons, similar to the idea of a guardian angel and demon, respectively. And in Hellenistic times, along with most of ancient Greek history, the daimon was external to the man whom it inspired and guided, making the person "possessed" by this motivating spirit. It was partially this view of possession, and largely trying to weed out other religions, that led to the Christian view of daemons as wicked spirits. ¹

Of what order is this daimon, which manifested
itself to Socrates in childhood but was also heard by Apollonius of Tyana only
after he had begun to put into practice the Hermetic principles? "They are
intermediate powers of a divine order. They fashion dreams, inspire
soothsayers," says Apuleius. "They are inferior immortals, called gods of the
second rank, placed between earth and heaven," says Maximus of Tyre. Plato
thinks that a kind of spirit, which is separate from us, receives man at his
birth, and follows him in life and after death. He calls it "the daimon which
has received us as its portionment." The ancient idea of the daimon seems,
therefore, to be analogous to the guardian angel of Christians. Possibly the daimon
is nothing but the higher part of man's spirit, that which is separated from the
human element and is capable, through ecstasy, of becoming one with the
universal spirit. ²

Below is an extended excerpt from my
research paper on Socrates. It speaks in more detail about the disposition
of his dæmon and how the man viewed his 'divine gift.'

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An
intriguing concept that Socrates unintentionally inspired was that of
the dæmon (or daimon). The philosopher spoke often of his 'internal oracle'
whose injunctions he followed. This voice of guidance gave only negative
admonitions (such as 'don't do that' or 'don't say that'), and would warn that certain
actions or events would lead to disaster - making it most synonymous with
Socrates' conscience. However, the oracle only spoke its mind, but never tried to coerce Socrates into following its advice. H. P. Blavatsky wrote that "the Daimonion of
Socrates is the god or Divine Entity which inspired him all his life." ³ Socrates himself said, "The favor of the gods has given me a
marvelous gift, which has never left me since my childhood. It is a voice which,
when it makes itself heard, deters me from what I am about to do and never urges
me on."

He spoke familiarly of this daimon, joked about it and
obeyed blindly the indications it gave. Eventually, his friends never took an
important step without consulting it. But the daimon had its sympathies, and
when it was unfavorable to the questioner it remained absolutely silent; in that
event it was quite impossible for Socrates to make it speak. ²

The fact that the daimon had preferences among Socrates' friends and those who
asked for advice (that it chose between them) seems to show that its
intelligence was different from that of Socrates himself. And he would always listen to its wisdom - sometimes standing motionless for a
full day, unaffected by a hard frost, listening to the daimon's recommendations. ³

The dæmon would always warn
Socrates if
he was undertaking something inappropriate, but remain silent if he did good.
Linked to this, the one well-known fact about Socrates' daimon is that it made
no sign of opposition during the trail that would condemn Socrates to death. He
took this to mean that death was not an evil to be feared, but was instead the next journey of existence. In his own words, Socrates
addressed the court by saying, "O my judges - for you I may truly call judges - I should like
to tell you of a wonderful circumstance. Hitherto the divine faculty of which
the internal oracle is the source has
constantly been in the habit of opposing me even about trifles, I was going to
make a slip or error in any matter; and now as you see there has come upon me
that which may be thought, and is generally believed to be, the last and
worst evil. But the oracle made no sign of opposition, either when I was leaving
my house in the morning, or when I was on my way to the court, or while I was
speaking, at anything which I was going to say; and yet I have often been
stopped in the middle of a speech, but now in nothing I either said or did
touching the matter in hand has the oracle opposed me. What do I take to be the
explanation of this silence? I will tell you. It is an intimation that what has
happened to me is a good, and that those of us who think that death is an evil
are in error. For the customary sign would surely have opposed me had I been
going to evil and not to good.."